The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association has approved two new measures to temporarily adjust purse awards at Laurel Park.
The MTHA coordinated with The Maryland Jockey Club, which has representatives on the MTHA Purse Committee, to enact both adjustments, which are intended to better reward local horsemen and bolster field sizes.
Ultimate Love, the top turf juvenile in the Mid-Atlantic region last year, is back in training at Fair Hill and could soon make her 3-year-old debut for trainer Michael Trombetta.
The Florida-bred filly spent her winter break back home at Live Oak Plantation, but Trombetta always planned to bring her to Maryland ahead of the turf season up north.
“[Live Oak] was very happy to give her a couple months’ downtime,” Trombetta said. “They got her started and they said she was right back into things, like she hadn’t had much of a break or rest. They were very happy with her.”
When Quint’s Brew bounced back to win the $100,000 Not For Love Stakes at Laurel Park on March 7, Ned Allard thought he had earned a rest after firing on a short turnaround. When the Maryland-bred got back to the barn, however, he gave his trainer a different idea.
“I planned on giving him at least a month between races, but he came out of his last race a grizzly bear,” Allard said.
P Val is back.
Patrick Valenzuela, who began riding in 1978 and has won 4,372 races, including the 1989 Kentucky Derby and seven Breeders’ Cup races, but has had repeated disruptions to his career caused by substance abuse problems, has been named to ride three horses at Turf Paradise in Phoenix on Monday.
Valenzuela, 63, has not ridden since December 2016 in Louisiana.
“I’m looking forward to riding at Turf Paradise and hopefully other places as well,” Valenzuela said in an interview on Sunday.
Paradise, an emphatic winner of the Busher Stakes here Feb. 28, and Two Bits, narrow winner of the Ruthless Stakes on Feb. 6, head a group of at least six 3-year-old fillies pointing to the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle Stakes on April 4.
Provided the Gazelle field stays above five, it will offer its top five finishers qualifying points to the Kentucky Oaks on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis. If only five run in the Gazelle, only 75 percent of the aforementioned points would be awarded.
Napoleon Solo, who was supplemented to and entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby, will not run there and instead will be pointed to the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 4 at Aqueduct, owner Al Gold said Monday.
Saturday may be the last big day of the Gulfstream winter season, but trainer Miguel Clement hopes it’s just the starting point for some of his stable’s most accomplished runners.
Grade 1 stakes winners Far Bridge (Pan American) and Carson’s Run (Appleton), as well as the Grade 2 winner Bellezza (Orchid), are all entered to make their seasonal debuts Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
“Saturday’s the day we’re coming out of hibernation,” Clement said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Julien Leparoux, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, will be honored with the 2026 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award next month, Santa Anita announced Monday.
The Woolf Award, which can be won once, honors a rider’s achievements as well as personal character. The award is determined by a vote among riders across the country.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California-based colts Stark Contrast and Medici, second and third in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby on Saturday at Turfway Park, are candidates for the Grade 1 American Turf Stakes for 3-year-olds on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
The $1 million American Turf is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf, the surface on which Stark Contrast and Medici have thrived.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gold Phoenix’s ninth graded stakes win in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes will prompt discussions about a possible trip to Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.
Last May, Gold Phoenix finished fourth in the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill, closing from last of 10 to finish 1 1/4 lengths behind race winner Spirit of St Louis. The same $1.5 million race at 1 1/8 miles on May 2 is a possibility.
Gold Phoenix ended a two-race losing streak in the San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles, closing from seventh of eight.
